Here is a slightly different question that I cannot find the answer to anywhere. I own a copy of The Model Railroader Cyclopedia for 1937 and would like to use some of the content from this book. Does anyone know if these publications are now out of copyright (given the 50year copyright rules) or where to contact the copyright owners?
The details in the books are
The Model Railroad Cyclopedia 1937
Railroad Prototype Equipment Plans
Second Edition
1937 - The Modelmaker Corp.
Wauwatosa, Wis.
Copyright 1937 The Modelmaker Corp.
When you say “use” do you mean, make a model from? That should not be a problem. Or do you mean reprint and hand out or sell to others? My general impression is that Kalmbach gives permission for certain reprint rights to older material depending on the circumstances
Since the publication bore a copyright notice it did not lose its copyright eligibility in the big “sweep” of 1/1/78. So the issue would be, did Kalmbach renew the copyright or not? In something published before 1964 that is the test. I guess you might need to ask them.
If it was renewed then I think there is a high chance it remains under copyright, since copyright periods have been getting longer and longer.
Another thing to think about is that those old MR Cyclopedias consisted of material reprinted from the magazine itself, so that even if Kalmbach slipped up and let the copyright on the book expire, the underlying material might still be protected if they renewed on the source magazines.